Hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving, with plenty of good food and good times. Of course, this has to be excluding the Jaguars, because they habitually give me indigestion. This week has been no exception.
My thoughts...
1. Last week was a bit of a nightmare because of 2-3 drive extending penalties that kept the Jaguars' defense on the field after 3rd down stops which led to 49ers scores. Either the Jaguars didn't learn their lessons, or they didn't have enough of that, because on 4th and 3 inside the Falcons' 10, Larentee McCray jumps offsides, giving the Falcons a first down when they had forced a punt. The next play, Cordarelle Patterson has like a 40 something yard run. Later, the Jaguars stopped the Falcons on 3rd down, forcing a FG, but RRH uses leverage on a FG, drawing a 15 yard penalty giving the Falcons a 1st down. The next play, Patterson runs for a TD, putting the Falcons up 14-0 instead of 10-0. But that entire sequence of events was triggered by McCray jumping offsides. In the key defensive drive, #21 gave up a first down on a 3rd down hold. This team isn't good enough to continue to pay compound interest on mental mistakes. If family didn't make you cuss this weekend, those drive continuing morale sapping penalties certainly did.
2. The frustrating play didn't stop there. We actually managed to get a coverage sack. I didn't think I'd ever type that this year. But anyway, the sack created a 3rd and long. The very next play, Ryan hits a check down to a RB way short of the first down, only to have him run for and get the first down. All the time we are behind the chains for whatever reason, we rarely convert. One of the few times we get the other guys behind the chains, they convert.
3. On that drop by #33 in the right flat in the red zone, could somebody please tell me what the hell Jawaan Taylor was doing?!? At the snap, he stands up out of his stance and looks around, while everyone else around him is playing normally. It was as if he thought there was a pre snap penalty or something. It's hard enough for him to pass protect under normal circumstances. Standing there looking confused and not blocking anyone can't make things any easier. Of course, consistent with that, he had two penalties inside the red zone in the second half-a false start and a holding penalty, which caused us to kick a FG instead of possibly putting it in the end zone.
4.Granted, you certainly don't want RBs fumbling. But given how dependable he has been, why was Robinson benched-albeit briefly? If the idea is to discourage poor play, then the almost the entire team should have been benched at one point or another. Certainly most of the other players who have committed bad play/penalties are nowhere near as productive as Robinson.
5. I don't think Bartch had a particularly good game against Grady Jarrett. There were a couple of plays where Jarrett beat him badly with quickness. The first was on a run to Robinson that resulted in afast loss of yardage. Another play late in th first half, Jarrett flushed Trevor Lawrence out of the pocket to his left resulting in an incompletion.
6. Aside from the penalties described in #1 above, I thought Special teams were okay...nothing great. It was good to see Mickens back. He was a good returner for us before, and he had a nice return early on.
7. Rookie Watch:
A. Trevor Lawrence-it seems apparent to me Trevor Lawrence heats up and thrives in up temp situations. We saw it in preseason against Dallas, and we saw it today. Inexplicably, after the change in tempo contributed to a TD drive, we got off of the tempo the very next drive. He seemed to show more confidence in Treadwell. He took a particularly nasty shot by #98, and got hit in the head on another pass rush in the second half. At least one of those should have had a penalty. He still needs to improve short accuracy. His mobility was key today, as he ran for some good gains and first downs, and he scrambled his way out of some sacks.
B. Travis Etienne-DNP
C. Tyson Campbell-Had his best game as a pro, with a couple PBU and an INT. It seems as though his improved play is directly tied to the switch to zone defense. Now it's good that the coaching staff seemes to have found a scheme that matches Campbell's abilities. But that's ultimately an indictment on Baalke. Baalke knew or should have known Cullen's scheme preferences to play man. He had no business drafting a zone CB. Drafting a zone CB means he didn't correctly evaluate the talent, even though he is playing better.
D. Walker Little-DNP
E. Andre Cisco-I did not see him. I know he had a groin injury. I don't think he played.
F. Jay Tufele-DNP. Currently on UR designated to return.
G. Jordan Smith-DNP-been inactive all year.
H. Luke Farrell-I did not see him.
8. Earlier in the season, I felt Myles Jack was getting on my nerves. But he played well today with a few key run blitzes.
9. After some improvement over the past few weeks, I'd say the defense-in particular the run defense, has taken a step back. There was a disastroud first quarter against the Colts, and backed it up with an equally bad first quarter against the 49ers last week. This time, Cordarrelle Patterson gashed us with some big runs. Improvement against the pass should not come at the expense of run defense.l It's okay for us to have both strong run defense and pass defense.
10. Bottom line-This was yet another instance of when stupid penalties at bad times cost this team dearly. I'm not sure if that's a lack of taent, a lack of quality coaching, both, or something else. But this has been possibly the most frustrating part of this season. The propensity for this team to kill itself with penalties seems exponentially higher than it has been in this team's history. Trevor and the passing offense showed some spark at times, but the team still needs more speed and ability overall. I'm not sure, but without looking at the schedule, it seems there is maybe one or two wins left here-if the team can manage to play better football without self destructing.
Worst to 1st. Curse Reversed!
